These are usually the kinds of Christmas albums I avoid. There are just so many quasi-anonymous techno Christmas albums with blase titles like "Electronic Christmas" and group names like Discolab. And, when you go to sample them, there is nothing remotely Christmas about the music. Most of the time (no offense) there isn't even anything remotely music about the music.

Fair enough, I've been in a weird head of late. But I took a chance on "Electronic Christmas" by Discolab and was delightfully surprised and entranced. The album weaves it's way through any number of moods and sounds--yet remains cohesive and, remarkably, Christmasy. There's straight up Electro Pop, there's some nice club dance stuff, and several tracks that are the pop equivalent of Chill. Even when putting forward an uptempo dance track that seems completely removed from the season (as, for example, "Go For Lala Christmas"), its somehow mellow and relaxing and as comfortable as a robe and slippers in front of the fire. Largely light and instrumental, there are vocals mixed in along the way.

I wasn't able to learn much about the group Discolab. The label, Prior Musica, is based in Lithuania. How many Lithuanian record labels do you suppose there are? I'm guessing one. Certainly, Prior Musica is the only label in Lithuania that administers copyrights and publishing rights AND has their own full service recording studio. Sampling some of their other releases, I'm guessing this is their wheelhouse. They also produce and sell original soundscapes for production or for setting the mood for sales at your store or shop. And, yeah, I imagine it can get tiresome if you're not in the proper head. But there's some interesting stuff, here, that can make your mixtape sparkle and set it apart from the pack. Or, if you're throwing a Christmas house party, many of these tracks would make great transitional music from the rave to the slow dance (and back again).

This is digital only, so far as I can tell. And, for all I know, it may have been released overseas last year or even the year before. But it reached the shores of Amazon on August 1, so that's what we're going with. And its priced right at just $5.99. I'm not complaining. I dig it. My favorite tracks--the ones that most put me in the Christmas spirit--were "8 Christmas Tigers", "I Saw You At Christmas", and "Santa's Trip". "Christmas Sundown" is a mellow snow falling mood inducer. "Amanda Snow", "Bell Angels" and "Book Of Christmas" made for an affecting trio as well. And I dug "Night For You" just because I did, even though its one of those tracks I was talking about before that didn't strike me as at all Christmasy. Your mileage, as always, may vary.

PREviews

I don't know about you, but I want to see that cover art and I want to see that track list before I make my Christmas music purchasing decisions. The earlier the better. That's what we try to do for you here. We'll also try to give you a little background on the artist(s), in case they're new to you.